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Saturday, February 21, 2015

SpinTunes #10 Round 3 Reviews: Sarah Donner

Sarah is someone I only recently stumbled onto. But after checking out her music, I thought she was a perfect fit for SpinTunes. So I was very happy when she jumped in with both feet after some random guy asked her for help. You should definitely check her music out after reading the reviews, and listen to the video below as you read. - Spin

Excellent diction and breath control! Very smart song too! It somewhat reminds me of the musical “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown”. The changes in tempo and energy are refreshing as well.

2. When The Rain Falls – Zoe Gray

The melody in the chorus was lovely. The guitar had a hypnotic quality to it, but ended a bit jarringly in the last measure. It had a nice message lyric wise, and I think it was a sweet song.

3. The Animal Song – Charlie McCarron

I liked the changes in energy and tempo of this song. It’s a quirky little tune, and I agree “screw the narwhales!”.

4. No Time For Dreams – Dr. Lindyke

This song had some solid vocals and great energy. The harmonica solo was a nice touch.

5. Catch Me – Ross Durand

This song had a nice plot to follow along, plus there was pie. The verses were a little stronger, and I wish that complexity had been stretched into the chorus. The chorus lyrics seemed not as well thought out.

6. After Happily Ever After – Ominous Ride (Shadow)

I think the vocals had a lot of potential in this song, but the repetitive back and forth between the main two chords quickly grew old. I think repetition like that CAN work harmonically in a song, but there needs to be a lot more interesting stuff going on melodically and production wise. The singer should stretch his range a bit more because he sounds like he could be really dynamic.

7. Love You – The Boffo Yux Dudes

Good job with the production on this song! It reminded me a bit of Magnetic Fields.

8. Socksual – Dreiviertel Drei

Finally a song about socks! I enjoyed the instrumentation and goofy subject matter.

Perhaps in the future we can hear verses about the bi and trans socksuals.

9. Reflection In My Eggs - Jailhouse Payback

Good job on the production end of the song. The bass line stood out as one of the best part of the song. The repetitive rhythm and pitches in first couple of lines of the verses were a little wearing on the ears. A slight change in instrumentation or melody might help with that.

10. Recursion – Governing Dynamics

I liked the melody of the chorus. On occasion the vocals were a little sloppy pitch wise, and I think just needed a bit more support.

11. Squirrel – Jutze

This was a surprisingly educational song for a stupid American judge. I’m not a huge fan of the polka-esque bass line, and the instrumentation made me a little anxious. I enjoyed the light hearted attitude of the singer!

12. You Need To Know – Megalodon

I think the bass and guitar lines were the strongest aspect of this song. The vocals were mixed low and had poor support. I had trouble at times understand the lyrics. It seemed to lack a steady beat now and again, perhaps a click track was missing. There was a just a lot going on, and some editing would have been helpful in getting the song across.

13. Liars – Pete Murphy

This song has good energy and conviction in the vocals. I think the melody in the verses could have used a bit more range. The structure was strong and had good instrumentation.

14. Yagi [Parte Uno] - Jurek Mika

The energy was great to start, but the lack of dynamics made it a bit wearing on the ears after 30 seconds or so. The stream of consciousness was impressive, plus there was a goat.

15. Last Words – James Young

The guitar work is clean and grabbed me upon first listen. The lyrics are a bit muffled because of the effects on the vocals.

16. How Was Your Day? – Ben Taggart (Shadow)

It would be nice to hear actual melody in this song. I’m not sure if the directions for a ‘run on’ sentence song perhaps have translated here and elsewhere to ‘read a run on sentence’ over music. I enjoyed the plot with Mr. Raggles the Deliquent Rodent though.

17. Too Verbose – Adam Sakellarides

This song certainly stayed true to its title. I would have liked a little more melody in the verses. It definitely wins for the most lyrics per capita though!

18. Conspiracy Theory – Atom & EV

The lyrics are interesting, but I would have liked a little more diversity in the chord progression.

19. Muse Of The Machine – Kolton H.

The lyrics were difficult to understand because of the robotic effects on the voice. Also, the robotic effects basically left a lot to be desired on the melody end of things. The instrumentation was fun, and it’d be lovely to hear actual singing in that production.